


a call for help, a plea for death

by bitchmarner



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Coming Out, Crying, Fighting, M/M, Relationship Problems, Suicide Attempt, non-accepting parents, sad fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 14:22:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6379705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitchmarner/pseuds/bitchmarner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Jack and Bitty come out during Jack's second year of being in the NHL, things get very hard for Jack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a call for help, a plea for death

Eric "Bitty" Bittle was never expecting to come home to a silent apartment, nothing but the cars rushing by on the streets down below to fill the silence.

Eric calls Jack's name once, twice, three times in the living room before going to look for him. There weren't any notes on the counter, no sign of his shoes or keys being gone from the bedroom. but the bathroom door is locked, and the light is on. 

"Jack? You in there, honey?" Eric calls, lightly knocking on the door before trying the handle. It's locked, and that's so unlike Jack, to lock Eric out. A moment of panic washes over him, a million possibilities racing through his head as he frantically calls out for Jack again, louder this time. There still isn't an answer from the other side of the door.

For as small as he is, Eric is strong when he needs to be. years of checking practice with Jack taught him how to throw his minimal weight into whatever he needed to get past. So he rams his body against the door. Once. twice, before it busts open

 

Eric is greeted by the sight of an overflowing bathtub, the water on the floor stained red. He isn't ready to look up yet. To see if Jack is even conscious. 

 

He calls an ambulance as soon as he can process enough information to get himself into the right mindset. After that, he calls Bob, who tells Alicia and in turn, Kent, because he deserves to know.  
Then, with his last bit of energy as the ambulance arrives, he calls Shitty.

 

Eric is sobbing by the time Shitty picks up on the third ring, he answers with a cheery, "Hey, Bittle, what's goin' on?" but Shitty knows something is wrong when he hears Eric mumble "Jack" and "So much red. The water was so red." Shitty immediately tells him that he's on his way, and to stay strong. Eric can't make any promises.

The ambulance comes and goes and Eric can't move. He calls Shitty again, asks if he can pick him up on his way down. Shitty agrees, says he'll be there as soon as he can. Eric's hands are shaking and he's barely able to stand as he makes his way down the where Shitty has parked near their apartment complex. 

Shitty breaks numerous laws getting to the hospital, and as soon as they get information about Jack, Eric collapses into Shitty's arms. Jack is safe, for now, but in critical condition if his body doesn't accept the blood transfusion well. Four terribly long, agonizing hours later, Jack is stable, and groggy, but alive.

 

Eric spends every night of his recovery in that hospital room, for 9 days. Barely saying a word. the tears stopped long ago. Shitty comes and goes, only when he knows Jack is asleep. He couldn't look him in the eye. He can barely stay in the room long enough to give Eric the spare clothes he grabbed from the apartment. (Alicia had arranged for it to be cleaned, sterilized, for there to be no trace of evidence that her son had tried to kill himself again.)

Jack doesn't know what to say. just waits for Eric to start a conversation.  
The right words come the night before Jack is set to be released.

 

"You... you promised me forever." Eric chokes out, his voice hoarse from not speaking for the last few days. He's sitting in the corner of the hospital room, as far away from Jack as he could be without actually leaving the room. "You promised me forever, Jack Laurent Zimmermann, and you tried to take it away from me, to take it away from us. Were you that unhappy with me, with our relationship, that you couldn't even face me and talk about it?"

Jack's mouth opens and closes, and he looks horrified.  
"I- I would never, Eric, I love you-"

"THEN WHY? Why did you do this? Do you know how fucking hard it has been for me today? I saw you floating in a tub, covered in more blood than bathwater. I had to call your poor parents and tell them that you had tried to end your own life, again." Eric wipes his face with his hands, letting out a sigh. 

"Do you know how fucking long it took for me to convince them not to fly down here? That I could take care of you by myself, because I know that them being here would just upset you more?" He shakes his head, getting angrier by the second.  
"How could you even do this to me, to Shitty? The boys back at Samwell? Were you even thinki-

 

"OF COURSE I WAS THINKING ABOUT THEM! But I was so tired, okay?" Jack shouts, and it's full of more emotion than he had intended, his eyes spiked with tears as he chokes up. "I was tired of being the butt of the joke, tired of hearing about it in the tabloids, on the news, from my own fucking parents. I wanted to get away from it. But I couldn't. I didn't want to bother you with it, because I know that you would get upset-"

 

Eric sighs, walks over to where Jack is sitting up in the hospital bed. He lightly grabs Jack's hand, tracing the outline of where his engagement ring meets his knuckle.  
"Jack, that's what I'm here for. You don't need to hurt yourself in order to release your pain. I'm here because I love you, and I need you here with me, because we need each other. I'm here to support you and help you with your problems. I'm here for YOU."

 

Jack covers his face with his hands as he finally lets himself sob, tears falling freely now.

"I'm sorry, Eric, I'm so sorry. I'm such and idiot oh my god how could I do this to you. Oh fuck. You hate me you absolutely hate me I'm-" Jack is silenced when Eric grabs his hands gently, moving them away from his face.

"No. I don't hate you. I could never hate you. Sure, yeah, I'm mad that you didn't tell me. And I'm mad that you went to such extremes to try to get away from what was hurting you. But I don't hate you, Jack Zimmerman. You're the love of my life. Forever, remember? " Eric motions down to the ring on his finger, a simple engagement ring that Jack had given him right before they came out.

"Forever." Jack says, tears streaming down both their faces as they share a hesitant, tender kiss, holding each other's hands as tight as they can.

**Author's Note:**

> this entire fic was a brainstorming session i had with @speaksarcastically over on tumblr (y'all should check her out, she's amazing)  
> i'm going to be honest. this fic kicked my ass when i thought of it.


End file.
